Burn After Reading (2008) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it. Directors: a list of 49 titles created 21 Feb 2012 a list of 42 titles created 18 Jun 2013 a list of 38 titles created 27 Mar 2015 a list of 22 titles created 18 Aug 2015 a list of 24 titles created 10 months ago Title: Burn After Reading (2008) 7/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 26 nominations.

See more awards » Videos In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them. Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern physics teacher, watches his life unravel over multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking meaning and answers amidst his turmoils, he seems to keep sinking. Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Stars: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer. Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated. Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis A beautiful gold digger matches wits with a shrewd Beverly Hills divorce lawyer who is increasingly attracted to her. Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Bob Thornton A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a classical ensemble in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting but sharp old landlady. Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Stars: Tom Hanks, Marlon Wayans, Irma P. Hall A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam. Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh A laconic, chain-smoking barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in dry cleaning, but his plan goes terribly wrong.

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson. Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi Tom Regan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties. Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro Edit Storyline Osbourne Cox, a Balkan expert, resigned from the CIA because of a drinking problem, so he begins a memoir. His wife wants a divorce and expects her lover, Harry, a philandering State Department marshal, to leave his wife. A CD-ROM falls out of a gym bag at a Georgetown fitness center. Two employees there try to turn it into cash: Linda, who wants money for cosmetic surgery, and Chad, an amiable goof.

Information on the disc leads them to Osbourne who rejects their sales pitch; then they visit the Russian embassy. To sweeten the pot, they decide they need more of Osbourne's secrets. Meanwhile, Linda's boss likes her, and Harry's wife leaves for a book tour. All roads lead to Osbourne's house. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com> Intelligence is relative. See more » Genres: Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 12 September 2008 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Quémese después de leerse See more » Filming Locations: $19,128,001 (USA) (12 September 2008) Gross: The opening film of the 2008 Venice Film Festival. See more » Goofs The check that Osbourne Cox wrote was returned NSF to him, when in reality it would be returned to the payee.

See more » Quotes A female attorney handled 'Serious Matters' See more » Connections Pictures At An Exhibition Promenade (1874) (Phoenix, AZ) – See all my reviews The point here is that this movie is for adults, with adult themes and adult situations. As with all Coen brother movies, there are going to be people who love it and people that hate it. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground. I loved this movie. It was entertaining, dark and very funny. I really liked "No Country for Old Men" but I have to say, "Burn After Reading" was a more enjoyable film for me. Some of the reviews here have said that the film rambles around pointlessly, without any clear direction; well I have to disagree, if you are paying attention and you are an adult, you should have no problem understanding what is going on. The best part of the movie is watching this great cast perform brilliantly with the odd-ball material they are given. They are all straight men for the Coen brother's antics. There is violence, bad language, and everyone is sleeping with everyone else, especially George Clooney.

But the movie is very funny and while the rest of Hollywood seems to have lost there way, the Coen brothers continue to put out intelligent, entertaining and thought provoking material. 255 of 424 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes View All Critic Reviews (229) Audience Reviews for Burn After Reading This film is just fun and funny. A Coen Bros classic that can't be missed. The characters are expertly drawn and the alluring, winding plot is enjoyable. Great performances from the entire cast. Possibly the least dark Coens' movie. _kelly .King Super Reviewer Another fantastic outing for the Coen Brothers whose quirks and kookiness add charm and additional laughs with repeat viewings. Featuring outstanding work from an all-star cast, the Coen Brothers craft memorable characters and situations that will stick with me forever. I haven't laughed as hard as I do at any other movie in recent memory. The plot is ludicrous and hysterical in equal measure and has the right amount of stupid and smart to work. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I consider Burn After Reading a dark comedy masterpiece.

Josh Lewis Super Reviewer An insanely hilarious melange of comedy and thriller as one would imagine from the Coen Brothers, with a bizarre story full of characters who are stupid beyond comprehension and great performances by its whole cast, especially Brad Pitt stealing the scene. Carlos Magalhães Super Reviewer When it comes to Burn After Reading, it seems the Coens are just pulling things out of thin air. Guess what? It works just fine. Reading the plot-line is one thing, but watching 90 minutes of a lost disk is something else. There is so much intertwining going on, it is surprising how this film never gets as confusing as it sounds. Head-scratching perhaps, but not confusing. The banter from the characters is highly entertaining. In fact, this is one of the areas where this picture excels. The constant barrage of the F word is worth the price of admission. There are a number of noticeable faces. John Malkovich and Brad Pitt get a lot of points for their characters. J.K. Simmons makes the most of his minutes as well. Burn After Reading is an example of a recommendable comedic drama.

"Report back to me when it makes sense." JY Skacto Burn After Reading (2008) Author: Tom from Phoenix, AZ The point here is that this movie is for adults, with adult themes and adult situations. As with all Coen brother movies, there are going to be people who love it and people that hate it. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground. I loved this movie. It was entertaining, dark and very funny. I really liked "No Country for Old Men" but I have to say, "Burn After Reading" was a more enjoyable film for me. Some of the reviews here have said that the film rambles around pointlessly, without any clear direction; well I have to disagree, if you are paying attention and you are an adult, you should have no problem understanding what is going on. The best part of the movie is watching this great cast perform brilliantly with the odd-ball material they are given. They are all straight men for the Coen brother's antics. There is violence, bad language, and everyone is sleeping with everyone else, especially George Clooney.

But the movie is very funny and while the rest of Hollywood seems to have lost there way, the Coen brothers continue to put out intelligent, entertaining and thought provoking material. Was the above review useful to you? ‎Burn After Reading (2008) directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd Fucking CIA man... Fucking CIA man... Jesus Fucking Christ this will be mt most LOL review by far. John fucking Malkovich is so all over the place, this time, in the fact everybody this time is ALL over the place. The most humorous film of Coen brothers by far, more than Raising Arizona or The Big Lebowski, I mean the movies are so damn funny, but this are so damn fucking surreal, everybody are so crazy human being and inside of this shitty storm of mankind... ...No character is normal or rightful or deserve to credit of care. They all a bunch of asshole who gather in this shitty storm of madness.I believe that is the less surreal or genre… Review by Connor Adamson ★★★★½ If there's one thing that you can count on from the Coen Brothers is that their films will be uniquely funny.

They have a specific dark offbeat sense of humor that pervades all of their films and Burn After Reading seems to encapsulate that ideal. In the theme of the Big Lebowski, Fargo and their other treacherously plotted films, this film's plot is a morass of various storylines and character threads. Yet it never becomes jumbled to the point of annoyance as they seem to know how to craft a tone that makes the tangle work. The basic idea is that a CIA agent's memoirs containing sensitive classified information are picked up by employees of a local gym in DC.… Burn After Reading Official Trailer #1 - Brad Pitt Movie (2008) HD - YouTube Burn After Reading Official Trailer #1 - Brad Pitt Movie (2008) HD Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Jan 9, 2012 Subscribe to TRAILERS: Subscribe to COMING SOON: Subscribe to CLASSIC TRAILERS: Like us on FACEBOOK: Follow us on TWITTER: Burn After Reading Trailer - Directed by Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton. This is comedic tale of espionage. An ousted CIA official's memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find. Universal - 2008 Coens Ask the C.I.A. for a License to Laugh - The New York Times The New York Times Movies |Coens Ask the C.I.A. for a License to Laugh Search Movies | Movie Review | 'Burn After Reading' Coens Ask the C.I.A.

for a License to Laugh Burn After Reading Directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Comedy Continue reading the main story Photo George Clooney as a federal marshal who is also a serial adulterer in the Coen brothers new film, Burn After Reading. Credit Macall Polay/Focus Features Heart isn’t usually part of the discussion when we talk about movies, partly, I imagine, because it sounds too corny. And fuzzy. After all, what does it mean to say this or that director or film shows a lot of heart or too little? I ask only because “Burn After Reading,” the clubby, predictably self-amused comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen , has a tricky plot, visual style, er, to burn, but so little heart as to warrant a Jarvik 8. Not that you probably won’t choke up a couple of ho-ho’s in between a few hee-hee’s whenever Big Daddy Brad Pitt , as a nitwit gym rat with a Pepe Le Pew two-tone hair-stack, twitches across the screen or the camera nuzzles one of the other goofy gargoyles so beloved by the Coens. Mr.

Pitt’s Chad is the overripe second banana to Linda Litzke ( Frances McDormand , Joel Coen’s wife), who has some vague job at the gym where the two sort of work. Chad’s a buffoon (the hard body as soft brain), and Mr. Pitt has been charged with delivering a caricature rather than a character, but because the actor loves playing sidemen and conveys such natural, irrepressible (irresistible) sweetness, he’s also one of the film’s saving graces. It could use a few more. Like most of the Coens’ comedies, “Burn After Reading” is something of a shaggy sendup of an established genre and conventions, in this case the espionage flick. The film opens and closes with a Google Maps view of the Earth that has already become a cinematic cliché, a godly perspective that rapidly narrows in on the headquarters for the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va.

There, an analyst named Osborne Cox ( John Malkovich ) soon receives a demotion for boozing, the first knot in an increasingly and intentionally tangled thicket of contrivances and coincidences mostly involving three favorite American (and Hollywood) preoccupations: money, sex and self. With its complexly interwoven stories, political backdrop and the central presence of a bearded George Clooney , the film comes across a bit like “Syriana for Dummies,” though given the original this seems somewhat redundant. Here Mr. Clooney, recycling the tic-y head bobs and weaves from his “ER” days, plays Harry Pfarrer, a federal marshal who is two-timing his wife, Sandy (Elizabeth Marvel), with Osborne’s scarier better half, Katie ( Tilda Swinton ). A serial adulterer who totes his own wedge-shaped bolster to his assignations, Harry hooks up with Linda through the Internet, an improbability only slightly less preposterous than the computer disk of C.I.A. secrets that ends up floating around Linda and Chad’s gym and leading them in a world of trouble. As Donald H.

Rumsfeld once said, “Stuff happens.” Photo Brad Pitt with frosted tips in "Burn After Reading." Credit Macall Polay/Focus Features Professional wisenheimers, the Coens like squeezing laughs out of potentially hazardous material, whether they’re dumping a paraplegic out of a wheelchair for a chuckle, as they do in their finest film, “The Big Lebowski” (a comedy about the drama of friendship), or violently disposing of bit players, as they do in their most recent , “No Country for Old Men” (a drama about the comedy of death). They have a gift for the absurd and a penchant for cruelty, tendencies that, without the tempering quality of a recognizably human presence — Jeff Bridges’s glorious performance in “Lebowski,” Ms. McDormand’s emotionally nuanced one in “Fargo” — can make the Coens come across as insufferably superior and bullying. Comedy needs fools with funny faces, but comedy without gentleness is often just sadism.

Continue reading the main story It isn’t that sadism can’t be a laugh riot; it’s just a question of modulation, of balancing the loud yuks and cruel jabs with some delicate feeling, mixing a real face in with the cartoons. Though “Burn After Reading” isn’t as uniformly flat as “The Hudsucker Proxy” (the Coens’ leaden bid for Preston Sturges’s dizziness), there’s a crushing sameness to the characters and their predicaments. With the exceptions of the hard-working supporting cast — notably J. K. Simmons as a C.I.A. bigwig and the equally reliable and welcome Richard Jenkins as a lovelorn gym manager — the characters have been conceived as variations on self-deluded boobishness. Some (like Katie) appear sharper than others, others dumber (Linda), but they’re all punch lines in an overly extended joke. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The biggest punch line is Linda, whom Ms. McDormand plays with a grin that tends to look more like a grimace, perhaps because she’s been saddled with yet another one of the Coens’ ghastly pageboy dos. (Really?

Again?) It’s a punishing look for a cruelly unflattering character whose narcissism is matched only by her witlessness. Jerry Lewis has made a brilliant career out of playing stupid, but you never feel as if he loathes his disorderly orderlies because they’re slow on the uptake. The Coens in turn have made their careers with impeccable technique and an exaggerated visual style — they sure love their low-angle shots and traveling cameras — but it’s a wonder they keep making films about a subject for which they often evince so little regard, namely other people. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up “Burn After Reading” is rated R (No one under 17 admitted without parent or accompanying adult). Some bloody violence and many expletives. BURN AFTER READING Opens on Friday nationwide. Written, produced and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen ; director of photography, Emmanuel Lubezki; edited by Roderick Jaynes; music by Carter Burwell; production designer, Jess Gonchor; released by Focus Features. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes.

WITH: George Clooney (Harry Pfarrer), Frances McDormand (Linda Litzke), Brad Pitt (Chad Feldheimer), John Malkovich (Osborne Cox), Tilda Swinton (Katie Cox), Richard Jenkins (Ted), C.I.A. Superior (J. K. Simmons) and Elizabeth Marvel (Sandy Pfarrer). Burn After Reading Burn After Reading (Film) - TV Tropes Burn After Reading You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share "Report back to me when...I don't know...when it makes sense." — The CIA Superior Burn After Reading is a 2008 Black Comedy film written, produced and directed by The Coen Brothers , starring John Malkovich , George Clooney , Tilda Swinton , Frances McDormand , and Brad Pitt . When CIA Analyst Osbourne Cox is forced into retirement, his wife wants to divorce him; however, when an employee at Hardbodies Gym, named Linda, finds a CD containing their financial information — and Cox's unfinished memoirs — she assumes that the CD contains sensitive information, and tries to hold it to ransom.

Anything then resembling a plot promptly collapses inwards as a Love Dodecahedron starts to connect several people, most of whom become extremely paranoid or worse; in fact, the "plot" is best summed up by critic James Christopher, who points out the plot "...is a total mistake. The characters are madly absurd. The film shouldn't work, but it does." The film was so well-received it was nominated for the "Best Comedy or Musical" and "Best Lead Actress in a Comedy or Musical" Golden Globes, and was named the second-best film of 2008 by the A.V. Club's Noel Murray. This film contains examples of: An Aesop : Parodied. At the end, the CIA director tries to find a lesson in all that has happened, only to conclude that there is none. CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer? Palmer: I don't know, sir. CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned... not to do it again. Palmer: Yes, sir. CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did. Palmer: Yes, sir. Hard to say.

CIA Superior: Jesus fucking Christ. The Alcoholic : Ozzie. And he absolutely will not recognize it. Anyone Can Die : There is no Plot Armor for the Plucky Comic Relief (Chad) or the only truly sympathetic character (Ted) in this movie. Astronomic Zoom : Done in the opening and closing shot, giving the sense of an omniscient viewer, in this case, the CIA....which is funny when you think about it, as by the end of the movie they really had no idea what the hell just happened. Audience Surrogate : The J. K. Simmons character. He's the only one in the movie to point out that basically nothing that has happened makes sense. Beige Prose : The few excepts we hear from Ozzie's memoirs make it sound painfully boring. Berserk Button : For Ozzie, having to deal with MORONS!!! Better Than a Bare Bulb : Without the CIA scenes, the plot would look like a ridiculous, disconnected mess. Just having an omniscient observer acknowledge that the plot is a ridiculous, disconnected mess somehow manages to absolve this. Big Good : It says a lot when the CIA is the closest thing to this.

Black Comedy : As per usual with the Coens. Blackmail Backfire : Chad and Linda try to blackmail Osborne, whereupon Hilarity Ensues . "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word : Chad likes to see himself as a "Good Samaritan" rather than what he really is. Blatant Lies : "I didn't retire, I quit!" Chekhov's Gun : Literally, with Harry's gun. The Chew Toy : Extreme examples with Ted and Chad. Everyone else in the plot is a self-centered sociopath who can't recognize they aren't the most important person in the universe. These two actually decide to help someone else. Think they'll be rewarded for their efforts, or even appreciated? Not in this plot... CIA Evil, FBI Good : Played with.

When Palmer offers to liase with the FBI over the investigation of the murder of Chad, the CIA director dismissively rejects this as he doesn't want "those idiots bungling around in all this." On the whole, however, while the director's not exactly shy about disappearing inconvenient bodies or allowing guilty people to more or less go free to prevent embarrassment to the agency, he (and by extension the CIA) come off less evil and more befuddled by what's going on. Cleanup Crew : The reason the police never get involved is that the CIA are running around disposing of the bodies before the police can find them and drag a story into the open that might embarrass the Agency. Clint Squint : Chad tries to give Osbourne Cox one when they first meet. He fails hilariously . Cluster F-Bomb : Osbourne on multiple occasions, Harry when he discovers Chad in his closet after he accidentally shoots him, and the CIA Superior at the end of the movie. Chad is more fond of the S-word, and uses a Cluster S-Bomb after he discovers a cd of Osbourne's memoirs, which he think is top secret information. Comically Missing the Point : Most of the characters in the film. About everything.

One example: Osbourne: If you ever carried out your proposed threat, you would experience such a shitstorm of consequences, my friend! Your empty little head would be spinning faster than the wheels of your Schwinn bicycle back there! Chad: (chuckles) You think that's a Schwinn! Compromising Memoirs : Subverted. Cox plans to release his memoirs, which are nothing like as scandalous to the agency as he believes. But then Linda and Chad mistake the memoirs for valuable "spy shit" and try to sell it to the Russians. The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much : The ending. Osborne's and Chad's comas/deaths are quickly covered up by the CIA. Damn You, Muscle Memory : Muscle memory makes Harry instinctively draw his gun and kill Chad when startled. Harry doesn't realize what he's done for a couple of minutes afterward. Deconstructive Parody : Of crime and spy thrillers. Despair Event Horizon : Happens to Harry after he accidentally kills Chad in the closet who he thought was a spy. Ever since, Harry developed a Hair-Trigger Temper and distant, obsessive behavior due to paranoia and the murder he committed. Dogged Nice Guy : Ted.

Dumb Blond : Chad has blond highlights in his hair to show he's not very bright. Even Evil Has Standards : Harry might not be a particularly decent or moral individual, but he is shown to be genuinely traumatised and guilt-ridden after accidentally murdering Chad. Evil Sounds Deep : Invoked by Chad when he attempts to act menacing towards Cox by narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice. Unfortunately, he keeps forgetting and reverting back to his normal speech. Hilarity Ensues . Failed Attempt at Drama : Chad seems to be trying to look like a thoughtful dramatic lead with furrowed brow and squinted eyes when he confronts Cox with a proposition of reward in exchange for "his shit", but it fails miserably. Fan Disservice : Seeing Linda and one of her mystery dates having sex. Do not want. Farce : The movie only works because it doesn't even try to maintain a sensical plot. Film Within a Film : Coming Up Daisy, a Romantic Comedy directed by Sam Raimi , starring Dermot Mulroney and Claire Danes, and based on a book by Cormac McCarthy .

Also comes free with an Orphaned Punchline : "Would you come down from there?!" The laughs come from Laura and Harry getting a huge kick from it. For Inconvenience, Press "1" : Linda has some trouble with this twice. Funny Background Event : Near the end, Linda's blind date is on the bench near her. During George Clooney's freak-out, a woman comes to meet him, who looks exactly like her. Hypocritical Humor : Katie Cox hammers on a table to punctuate as she insists, "I don't hammer!" Osbourne Cox rails against the morons and idiots he feels he's surrounded by, but for all his pretensions he's not as smart as he likes to think. Idiot Plot : Done intentionally , not to mention hilariously. Improvised Weapon : Ted shows surprising resourcefulness when held at gunpoint, hurling a paperweight at his attacker to throw off his aim and then running for the door with a bullet in his arm. Instant Death Bullet : Averted. The only time a character does die from a single bullet was shot in the head at point blank range. But Osborne and Ted both survive being shot, if only barely.

Ivy League for Everyone Jaded Washout : Ozzie, as the film suggests that his Glory Days at the agency weren't half as significant as he thinks they were. Jerk Ass : Half of the cast, since there are those like the CIA director and Ted, the former of which is simply lost as to what's going on with the main characters, while the latter is a good, honest man who tries to act as a voice of reason. Then there's Chad, who putting it mildly, is simply too naive to know what he's getting involved in. Jurisdiction Friction : CIA Operative: We'll interface with the FBI regarding the body. CIA Superior: No, no. God no. We don't need those idiots fucking everything up. Burn the body. Get rid of it. Karma Houdini : Linda is quite possibly the most repulsive, selfish character in the entire movie who should have been charged at minimum with treason. She's also the only main character who comes out of the film with what she wanted. Course, she's not without her bright spots. She was genuinely concerned for Chad's whereabouts. Large Ham : Osborne Cox fits the bill perfectly. Ted: It's not a phony-baloney Hollywood body.

Linda: That's right, Ted. I would be laughed out of Hollywood. Lost Aesop : At the end, the CIA director tries to figure out what exactly the lesson they should take away from this mess is, only to realize that if there was one, it's entirely lost on him. Love Dodecahedron : To summarize: Osbourne is married to Katie, has his memoirs stolen by Linda and kills Ted. Linda is friends with Chad, is oblivious to Ted's attraction and later goes out with Harry. Harry is married to Sandy, but having an affair with Linda and Katie, and kills Chad. CIA Officer: They all seem to be sleeping with each other. Love Makes You Dumb : Ted, the Hardbodies manager. Mock Guffin : The aforementioned "shit" is a memoir that probably would have not published anyway, as the movie suggests Cox's book isn't important or interesting enough that anyone would want to read it. Mood Whiplash : We start at casual, there are some laugh-out-loud moments, some tense scenes, followed by some shockingly funny scenes or shockingly sad scenes.

Case in point is the Surprisingly Sudden Death of The Ditz Chad who gets an accidental Boom, Headshot by spy veteran Harry. The scene where Richard Jenkins, who has the only sympathetic character, is shot and has his skull split open by a crazed John Malkovich. Mr. Exposition : J.K. Simmons and the associate who keeps him informed of the progression of events (calling it a plot would give it too much credit). Mysterious Past : Gym manager Ted's former career as a European Orthodox priest. Ted: Let me tell you something; I wasn't always a manager at Hardbodies. (shows Linda a picture of himself in priest garb) Fourteen years, a Greek Orthodox priest. Congregation in Chevy Chase. Linda: Well jeez, that's a good job! Ted: Mm-hm. Linda: What happened? Ted: Well... it's a long story. Anyway, in a lot of ways I'm happier now. My point is it's a journey. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished : Goes hand-in-hand with Karma Houdini .

Several sympathetic and innately good characters get it worst in the end, while the most deplorable and morally bankrupt make out pretty well. To review: Linda, who is terribly shallow and greedy, thinks only of her own benefit, and fully intends to sell national secrets to Russia for cash, gets the CIA to pay for her surgeries, and suffers no negative consequences to her actions. Harry, who is a complete sleazebag who constantly cheats on his wife gets served divorce papers, but otherwise gets away scot free to Venezuela. Osborne is an alcoholic JerkAss, but at least has good (if very misguided) intentions; he ends up in a coma and borderline braindead. Finally, the characters who get it worst are Chad and Ted, both sweet and sympathetic characters who just try to help; Chad is shot in the head in the second act, while Ted is shot in the arm and hacked to death with a hatchet. Oblivious to Love : Ted's love for Linda. Oh Crap! : Chad, when he hears Harry get something metal that clicks out of the drawer, then sees Harry's empty gun holster. You see him put two and two together just before Harry opens the closet and finds Chad inside.

"Oh, Crap!" Smile : He manages to form one of these just before being shot in the head. Only Sane Man : The CIA Director. It speaks to what kind of movie this is that he isn't even given a name . The CIA Officer who relates the tale to him also seems to be doing so in a fashion that suggests he can't quite believe the story he's telling actually happened, but he's not quite as sharp as his boss. Also, Ted, the sole voice of reason amongst his colleagues at Hardbodies - and who is always ignored. Poor Ted. Precision S Strike : Chad, to the most hilarious effect. "I thought you might be worried...about the security...of your shit." "The Reason You Suck" Speech : Osbourne delivers one each to Chad and Ted. Osbourne: If you ever carried out your proposed threat, you would experience such a shitstorm of consequences, my friend, your empty little head would be spinning faster than the wheels of your Schwinn bicycle back there. Osbourne: Oh yes, I know very well what you represent. You represent the idiocy of today. Yeah, you're the guy at the gym when I asked about that moronic woman.

Oh yes, you see, you're one of the morons I've been fighting my whole life. My whole fucking life. But guess what... Today, I win. Red Herring : The secret machine that Harry's working on. Possibly the best rug-pull of the entire film. The Reveal : The movie does a fantastic job building up anticipation about what Harry had been secretly constructing in his basement with all those tools. Cue the Dramatic Curtain Toss and ... turns out it's a sex-toy, namely a rocking chair that pushes a dildo up and down. Run for the Border : Harry is seized trying to board a flight to Venezuela. Palmer: We had his name on a hot list. CBP pulled him in. Don't know why he was trying to go to Venezuela. Director: You don't know. Director: We have no extradition with Venezuela. Palmer: Oh! So what should we do with him? Director: For fuck's sake, put him on the next flight to Venezuela! Second-Hand Storytelling : The ending. And it works. Shoo Out the Clowns : The Mood Whiplash moment of Chad 's Surprisingly Sudden Death .

Shoot the Shaggy Dog : Both Chad and Ted lose their lives in vain attempts to gather information at Osborne's house. The Irony is that their Unwitting Instigator of Doom Linda gets out alive, padded with hush money from the CIA. Furthermore, judging by the CIA Director's nonchalant reaction after being told Osbourne's clearance level ("No biggie.") and the Russian embassy staff's reaction to reading them, it's likely his memoirs didn't contain anything the least bit sensitive or revealing, thus rendering all the fuss over them completely pointless. Sir Swearsalot : Osbourne Cox is responsible for approximately half of the F-words in the entire film. Unlike other examples, he only curses when he's angry, but since he has a Hair-Trigger Temper , this happens almost all the time. Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism : It's a Coen Brothers movie. What did you expect, sunshine and rainbows? Spiritual Successor : The Big Lebowski was a send-up of the Raymond Chandler/noir staples in which buffoonish characters chase around a plot that really adds up to little, which is the point of the humor.

Burn After Reading does the same thing, but with spy/political intrigue tropes. The Spook : Harry thinks Chad is this. Surprisingly Sudden Death : Chad . Surrounded by Idiots : Osborne feels this about his entire life. Osborne Cox: You're part of a league of morons. You're one of the morons I have been fighting my whole life. My whole. Fucking. Life . Title In : The opening scene at the CIA headquarters is shown with onscreen information about the location. Too Dumb to Live : Our Wannabe Secret Agents Chad and Linda. The latter manages to get out alive and scot-free though. Unnecessary Combat Roll : Harry after he has already killed Chad. Unwitting Instigator of Doom : Linda sends Chad to Harry's house where he winds up dead, then sends Ted over to find what happened to Chad (who then ALSO ends up dead), then accidentally scares Harry into fleeing the country when she mentions Chad's disappearance in a conversation with him. Villain Protagonist : Osborne Cox is, consistently throughout the film, the character who is wronged or victimized the most.

Since all the other characters are screwing him over in one way or another (having an affair with his wife, blackmailing him), that makes them the villains...and the protagonists. May cross over with Hero Antagonist . Wannabe Secret Agent : Chad and Linda. When they discover Osborne's manuscript, they falsely believe it to contain classified information, that could be sold to the Russian government. A whole ton of Cringe Comedy ensues. Osborne later calls Chad out on his stupidity . Waxing Lyrical : As Harry is taking a shower at Osborne's house to wait for Katie, he sings " My Eyes Adored You " and the theme to Born Free. Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell : Played with. After being fired, Cox tells his father (who also worked for the CIA) that he quit because after the Cold War it turned into a bureaucracy. However, later on, nobody associated with the CIA can understand why Linda would think to sell Cox's memoirs to the Russian embassy. Osbourne Cox: "The Russians? Why the fuck would she go to the Russians? Why the Fuck!?!" With Due Respect : Said by Osborne during his talk with his supervisor in the opening scene.

Osborne: Palmer, with all due respect, what the fuck are you talking about?

Question: Who directed the film "Burn After Reading"?
Answer: Coen Brothers